More on Street Treats

I guess I should have learned my lesson from my years working for Joe. NEVER post anything on the web without first doing a Google search! It seems that the world of trademark identity hasn't come to street vendors, so if you Google "Street Treats," you get a company that has vending machines full of dog biscuits. Nope. That's not the sandwich I love. With a hyphen, you get a company that runs those soft ice cream trucks (complete with an annoying melody that plays when you hit the website). Still not my beloved sandwich.

I have no idea how they managed it, but my Street Treats is the only private stand-alone food concession allowed on the University of Akron campus. The Union has a Subway and an Aunt Annie's Pretzels and (of course) a Starbuck's, but this one is away from all that, out in the open near the Polymer Lab.

It's an odd visual experience. On the left, as you approach, three or four large yellow-brick buildings from the 1950s. They look like government buildings or (better guess) geology buildings. Maybe the quest for clean coal is valuable, but they don't rate much in the pizzazz department when it comes to architecture. On the right, a small dormitory left over from the days when Akron was 100% commuter and only a few dozen hardy residents lived on campus. In front of you, the pride of the campus, the garish Goodyear Polymer Center, rising twelve stories into the air, covered with reflective glass, and containing two classrooms. And square in front of you, a little red trailer with a red umbrella and a line of people waiting for the two hard-working employees to make their sandwiches.

Ah those sandwiches! Always pita bread. Several meat choices: steak, chicken, hot dog (never tried that one), or gyro meat. Sauces: overpowering steak sauce, honey mustard (my favorite) or "gyro sauce" (I don't think the locals can pronounce tzatsiki). Provolone cheese? It'll cost you an extra dime. Veggies? Of course: lettuce, tomato, and raw purple onion.

Get a bottle of iced tea (and don't forget the spork.) Sit in the sun and watch the odd combination of nerdy engineers, goofy freshmen, and skateboarders walk by.